Dear Democracy Now! visitor,

You turn to Democracy Now! for ad-free news you can trust. Maybe you come for our daily headlines. Maybe you come for in-depth stories that expose corporate and government abuses of power. Democracy Now! brings you crucial reporting like our coverage from the front lines of the standoff at Standing Rock or news about the movements fighting for peace, racial and economic justice, immigrant rights and LGBTQ equality. We produce our daily news hour at a fraction of the budget of a commercial news operation—all without ads, government funding or corporate sponsorship. How is this possible? Only with your support. If every visitor to this site in December gave just $10 we could cover our basic operating costs for 2017. Pretty exciting, right? So, if you've been waiting to make your contribution to Democracy Now!, today is your day. It takes just a couple of minutes to make sure that Democracy Now! is there for you and everybody else in 2017.

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

As President Bush Touts Opening Borders to Trade, Authorities Crack Down On the Flow of Goods and Ideas Between Cuba and the U.S.

Topics

In his speech to the World Bank, President Bush spoke about the necessity of tearing down walls that prevent the free flow of goods and ideas.

But while Italian officials are building walls to keep out activists who are trying to get to Genoa to protest at the G8 meeting, the U.S. is building walls to keep in activists who want to sent relief supplies to Cuba, and Cubans who want to come to the U.S. Two weeks ago a group of U.S. activists attempted to bring a caravan of relief supplies to Canada with the intention of shipping them to Cuba, only to be stopped by U.S. officials at the last moment.

Here in New York, activists are denouncing the U.S. Government’s decision to deny entry visas to a group of Cuban Trade Unionists who were trying to come to the U.S. to meet with Unions and Church groups.

Guests:

Judy Robbins, activist with the Let Cuba Live campaign in Maine

Rev. Lucius Walker, Pastors For Peace

Ray Le Forest, Coordinating Committee of the US Health Care Trade Union Committee, member of AFSCME local 1707. He was helping to coordinate the planned visit of the Cuban trade unionists.

Non-commercial news needs your support

independent global news

Democracy Now! is a 501(c)3 non-profit news organization. We do not accept funding from advertising, underwriting or government agencies. We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work. Please do your part today.